Answer and explanation:
George Orwell, born in 1903 in Motihari, Bihar, British India, was a famous novelist and journalist who greatly wrote about social injustice. Orwell was a democratic-socialist and, after the Russian Revolution, he wrote the allegorical novella "Animal Farm", one of his most famous works. He uses different farm animals to represent real people involved in the governmental change that took place in Russia.
As we know, Soviet leaders promised communism to be an antidote to the maladies brought by capitalism. After taking over the country and having power in their hands, however, they revealed themselves to be just as bad (or even worse) than the world leaders and countries they so fiercely criticized. Russia became a country reigned by fear. People were atrociously accused of crimes they hadn't committed, forced to confess, and finally killed. Freedom of expression became non-existent. While the people suffered, the ones in power had access to luxuries and comforts, making concessions for themselves.
Orwell uses the animals as a metaphor for the characteristics of the people involved in the Russian Revolution. For instance, the pigs are the ones chosen to represent the leaders. Pigs are well-known for two qualities: intelligence and uncleanliness. Even though they might have been bright men, Soviet leaders were "dirty", corrupt, incapable of doing themselves what they demanded the people to do. The Russian people is, by the way, represented by a horse, a loyal and hard-working animal. People still worked, still obeyed, even with all the atrocities that took place. There are many other animals mentioned throughout the story, all of them symbolizing a feature - innocence, ignorance, violence etc. - which allows Orwell to make his critique in an indirect manner.
